Practice Areas
Industries
International Trade
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May 16, 2012
Schumer Says 'Extra Virgin' Test Bad For NY Olive Oil Biz
A push by California growers for more rigorous quality tests to be performed before olive oil can be labeled "extra virgin" could threaten New York-based Sovena USA Inc., the nation's largest olive oil importer, Sen. Charles Schumer said Wednesday.
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May 16, 2012
Covington Snags Anti-Corruption Atty For London Office
Covington & Burling LLP has added to its European anti-corruption and trade control practices by luring a Steptoe & Johnson LLP partner with extensive international experience to its London office, the firm said Wednesday.
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May 16, 2012
Improper Filing Kills Chinese Garlic Duty Challenge
A group of Chinese garlic exporters has lost a challenge to anti-dumping duties assessed by the U.S. government, after a trade court ruled they had sought redress under the wrong federal statute, according to an opinion published by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Wednesday.
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May 15, 2012
Senate Breathes New Life Into Ex-Im Bank
The U.S. Senate agreed Tuesday to extend the authority of the Export-Import Bank of the U.S., lengthening its lending authority through September 2014 and increasing its financing cap from $100 billion to $140 billion, one week after the U.S. House of Representatives did the same.
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May 15, 2012
Dems Seek To Bar Tax Credits For Chinese Solar Panels
Senate Democrats introduced a bill Tuesday that would exclude Chinese-made solar panels from tax credits that support small-scale solar installations in a move designed to counter China's subsidies for its solar industry.
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May 15, 2012
Freight Manager Gets 6 Months For Illegal Iran Exports
A former manager with a Netherlands-based freight-forwarding company who was part of a conspiracy to illegally export spray paint coatings and other goods to Iran was sentenced in New Jersey federal court on Tuesday to six months in prison.
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May 15, 2012
Myanmar's Suu Kyi Backs McCain's Call To Ease Sanctions
Myanmar opposition leader and former dissident Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday gave a guarded endorsement to Sen. John McCain's statements that the U.S. should suspend sanctions against the formerly autocratic country.
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May 15, 2012
Peregrine Says HTC Smartphone Infringes 5 Circuit Patents
Peregrine Semiconductor Corp. sued HTC Corp. and its U.S. subsidiary in the U.S. International Trade Commission and California federal court on Monday, accusing the smartphone maker of infringing five patents covering radio frequency circuitry.
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May 15, 2012
Blackstone Bets $1.5B On Cheniere's LNG Export Plans
The Blackstone Group LP will buy $1.5 billion in stock units at a discount from Cheniere Energy Partners LP, locking in the final piece of financing for Cheniere's plans to export U.S. shale gas, according to deal terms announced Tuesday.
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May 15, 2012
Steptoe Snags Ex-IDB Investigations Chief With FCPA Chops
Steptoe & Johnson LLP has snagged a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act pro and former chief of the Inter-American Development Bank's Office of Institutional Integrity, to expand its international regulation and compliance and commercial litigation practices and Latin American presence, the firm said Tuesday.
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May 15, 2012
ITC Keeps Duties On Chinese Foundry Coke, Japanese Steel
The U.S. International Trade Commission on Tuesday decided to renew anti-dumping duties on Chinese imports of coke fuel used in foundries and Japanese shipments of coated steel sheet, saying that removing the protective measures would likely hurt domestic producers.
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May 15, 2012
Chinese, Indian Airlines Must Hand Over Emissions Data: EU
The European Union’s climate change chief said Tuesday that 10 Chinese and Indian airlines fail to comply with regulations requiring them to submit greenhouse gas data as part of the Emissions Trading System, and gave them a month to turn in their results.
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May 14, 2012
US-Colombia Free Trade Pact Goes Into Full Swing
The U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement enters into full force Tuesday, topping off years of work by both countries to secure the pact’s implementation.
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May 14, 2012
Argentina Rips Spain Over Biodiesel Ban
Argentina told the the European Union on Monday that it was “deeply concerned” with Spain's recent decision to bar imports of Argentine biodiesel, saying the move violated World Trade Organization rules.
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May 14, 2012
Supreme Court Declines Havana Club Trademark Case
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review an appeals court decision that since the government has authority to revoke any exceptions to the Cuban trade embargo, a state-owned Cuban company doesn’t have a "vested right to perpetual renewal" of its Havana Club trademark.
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May 14, 2012
McCain Wants Myanmar Sanctions Suspended
Sen. John McCain urged the Obama administration on Monday to take bolder steps to increase trade with Asia, including calling for the the U.S. to suspend most of its economic sanctions against Myanmar.
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May 14, 2012
Vietnamese Fish Cos. Dispute Zeroing In Duty Orders
A group of Vietnamese frozen fish exporters on Friday filed a U.S. Court of International Trade challenge to the continued use of zeroing in administrative duty reviews by the U.S. Department of Commerce, in light of recent appeals court rulings that question the policy.
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May 11, 2012
Force-Fed Foie Gras Violates Law, Threatens Health: Suit
Animal advocacy groups sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture in California on Wednesday, alleging that the agency has violated the Poultry Products Inspection Act by allowing the sale of force-fed foie gras, which they say necessarily comes from diseased birds and is unfit for human consumption.
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May 11, 2012
Orion Bows Out Of Walker Digital's Blu-Ray Patent Fray
Orion America Inc. on Thursday escaped Walker Digital LLC's suit before the U.S. International Trade Commission accusing it and others of selling Blu-ray disc players that infringe its media interfacing patent.
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May 11, 2012
Australia Passes Bills To Streamline Tariff Systems
Australia's parliament on Wednesday advanced two bills aimed at streamlining the country's anti-dumping and tariff systems as part of an overhaul announced last year that is intended to make the systems easier to use.
Expert Analysis
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FCA Suits: A Growing Concern In Trade Compliance
A new trend in False Claims Act suits is emerging. Increasingly, international trade compliance lapses are serving as the basis for FCA suits. Steps should be taken to protect companies against this growing area of potential liability for international trade activities, say Lisa Crosby, Bob Conlan and Jill Caiazzo of Sidley Austin LLP.
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Iran, Sanctions And Oil — A Global Update
Europe's July 1 oil embargo as well as U.S. and European financial sanctions prompted by Iran's nuclear program have seen Tehran's oil sales drop to most Western destinations, and drawn promises from some Asian buyers that they will cut purchases, says Nigel Kushner of Whale Rock Legal Ltd.
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Missing Link: Food, Drug Safety In Foreign Supply Chain
The Institute of Medicine has issued a report entitled “Ensuring Safe Foods and Medical Products Through Stronger Regulatory Systems Abroad." Some of IOM’s goals, including the application of current food-tracing requirements to medicines, biologics and even medical devices, suggest that supply-chain tracing may be of increased importance over the next three to five years, says Amy Goerss of Hodgson Russ LLP.
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Expanding The Extraterritorial Reach Of US Sanctions
The recently issued executive orders expanding sanctions against Iran and Syria serve to demonstrate the expanding extraterritorial reach of U.S. sanctions, even for activities without any connection to U.S. commerce and that otherwise would be lawful in the home jurisdictions of such third-country nationals, say attorneys with Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP.
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The Latest FCPA Target: Private Fund Advisers
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Foreign Corrupt Practices Act case against a former Morgan Stanley executive — the first FCPA case involving a private fund investment adviser — reemphasizes to investment firms the importance of establishing effective anti-corruption internal controls in protecting both the entity and individual personnel from such enforcement, say attorneys with Ropes & Gray LLP.
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Where Rubber Hits Road: Examples Of Alternative Fees
Creating new approaches to fee agreements is something to embrace rather than fear — and when structured and managed correctly, it can be financially advantageous. Take, for example, fixed-fee arrangements, result-based billing and portfolio billing, say Bill Rudnick and Keith Maziarek of DLA Piper.
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Easing US Sanctions Against Burma
While Canada and the EU have moved ahead swiftly with lifting sanctions against Burma, indications are that a slower and more cautious transition process is likely to unfold in the United States, given the number of overlapping sanctions currently in place, say Brenda Jacobs and Christopher Swift of Sidley Austin LLP.
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Reconsidering 1st-Sale Rule's Application To Gray Market
The U.S. Supreme Court recently granted certiorari in John Wiley & Sons Inc. v. Kirtsaeng, suggesting that the high court will decide a critical issue that it left unresolved a year ago — whether the first-sale doctrine in copyright law applies to copies manufactured outside of the U.S. A reversal by the court could lead to an influx of gray market goods, say attorneys with Latham & Watkins LLP.
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Reducing Corruption Risk By Disrupting Moral Hazard
Controlling "moral hazard" — a phenomenon inherent in third-party business relationships — is a key factor in efforts to counter corruption. Yet, moral hazard is seldom addressed or discussed by anti-corruption professionals in the context of mitigating the risk of a regulatory event, say Glenn Ware and Shanti Salas of PwC and Suzanne Folsom of Academi.
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Targeting Foreign Evaders Of Iran And Syria Sanctions
From a U.S. company compliance perspective, the additional compliance burden created by the recent executive order targeting foreign evaders of U.S. sanctions against Iran and Syria is relatively limited. In contrast, the order creates significant new challenges to non-U.S. companies’ compliance efforts, say attorneys with Steptoe & Johnson LLP.